Gradually, Sam came to. It took her a few moments to acclimate herself. What the hell am I doing at Martha’s? She thought as she gingerly endeavored to sit up.
"Heh, don’t rush it." Martha scurried to the couch to assist her friend.
"You’ve had quite a nasty ordeal."
"Martha? What ......... ?"
"Hush," soothed Martha, gently pushing Sam’s hair back off her forehead, "you sleep now."
The next time she awoke the sun was streaming in through the windows.
The storm is over, was her first thought.
"She’s awake, Mom!" Kevin Jr., proud to have been the first among his brothers to discover that fact, loudly shouted to his mother.
"That will be enough yelling, son." Martha hurried to Sam’s side and shooed the boy away.
Carefully, she helped her friend sit up, banking her back with pillows. After an initial flash of dizziness, Sam felt fine. She tucked her legs comfortably under herself and asked, "What am I doing here, Martha?"
Martha turned to look at her friend with concern. "You don’t remember?"
She continued at Sam’s negative shake of her head. "Per brought you to us. In the middle of the night. Said you’d had some kind of an accident out by the cliff."
Sam stirred. Rapidly, faint images started pressing themselves in upon her. She weakly sat back against the pillows and closed her eyes for a moment. She’d been running in the storm. She could remember being afraid ..... very afraid .......
for her life. Because of what? Or whom? Per ........... Per had been following her. Sam sat up straighter as memories from the previous night’s events rushed back to her. Jesus Christ, she had it all now.
She had been trying to get away from Per. She had thought he was going to hurt her. But the fog had been so bad she hadn’t been able to see where she was going.
My God, she thought completely stunned, I ran right off the fucking cliff!
Quizzically, she looked down at herself. A scratch here and there - her jeans, caked with mud, a bit worse for wear - but certainly nothing major. She could vividly recall the unnatural sensation of unrestricted nothingness around her heavily falling body. Why aren’t I lying in a broken heap on the rocks? She bewilderedly questioned herself.
Because of Per. That was why. With a shock that physically jolted her entire body, Sam distinctly remembered what had happened next. Per had come off the cliff after her and caught her rapidly descending body up into the safety of his arms.
The son of a bitch could fly.